paulphoto Reviews

Road of No Return (2009)

A thinking man's action film

[8/10 · 28 February 2010]

I liked this film not b/c it had spectacular action sequences but b/c it was a thinking man's action film, it had heart, it had characters that had a past and had something to say. You don't usually see that with Hollywood films in particular action films. So it was quite refreshing specially that you don't expect it. But I must say that I was a bit disappointed that Carradine and Madsen's time on screen was limited but I think others did a really good job carrying the film. However, the production value at times was weak, you could see that it had been made on a shoe-string budget. It was definitely an indie film and it showed but I like low budget indie films. The film worked for me and left an impression. If you don't like dialog this film is not for you.

The Hurt Locker (2008)

Good film but does not deserve all these awards

[7/10 · 28 February 2010]

this is a good film but as i said it does not deserve all these recognitions. The nominations seems to be mostly sociopolitical due to its subject matter. Definitely the screenplay does not deserve best screenplay nomination. There was not much of a story there. Its strength was its realism but even that has some holes in it. Overall I give it a A- for what it was but compared to all the movies out there I give it a B. There are a wealth of material to use in a war movie and this film did not touch on much of them except repeating the same scene (disarming an IED) 6 or 7 times, granted it was done well but it was too redundant.

Avatar (2009)

great film

[10/10 · 28 February 2010]

It was a great fantasy/action film. Great special effect even though the alien creatures looked animated. The story was intelligent as well. It kind of paralleled what the European did coming to America with the aliens being the Indians. I wonder if the film insulted the Indians because of that. Regardless it was put together very well with very unique features that we had not seen before. I am not big on fantasy films like this but this stood out. The imagination and creativity that were used with the creatures, plants and the flying sequences were amazing. The mind control of the creatures was also very interesting and it is someday possible. The spaceships were also very well designed.